Mozilla and Opera will keep Windows XP alive and kicking

Firefox maker and Opera Software follow Google's lead

Mozilla and Opera have followed Google's lead in pledging to pump life into Windows XP's dying corpse after Microsoft stops supporting the 12-year-old platform next year.

In an emailed statement to TRPro, Johnathan Nightingale, VP of Firefox, said that the company has "no plans to discontinue support" for XP after the April 8 deadline, while Opera Software told PCPro that it will support XP while the OS remains popular among its users.

Unlike Google, which has already pledged to release "regular updates and security patches" for Windows XP until April 2015, neither company said how (or how long) it will support the platform.

Taking risks

Microsoft has sounded multiple warnings that remaining on XP could leave businesses wide open to security and compliance risks in the absence of regular patches and updates. Despite this, the platform still remains relatively popular among both business users and consumers.

According to web analytics firm NetMarketShare, 31.4% of the PC users it tracked in September were running Windows XP - the second most-used operating system tracked that month - behind leader Windows 7 (46.39%).

Businesses are similarly dragging their feet. A recent study by IDC found that 28% of 750 executives and IT professionals are yet to migrate half of their application estates to Windows 7, and 3.7% haven't even started the process. The reason for that? They're too tied up with BYOD projects, apparently.